WASHINGTON, D.C.—Mohammed Rashed, a.k.a. Rashid Mohammed, has been convicted and
sentenced in connection with the 1982 bombing of a Pan Am flight which killed a
Japanese teenager and resulted in the injury of several other passengers,
Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S.
Attorney Kenneth L. Wainstein of the District of Columbia announced today.

Rashed, who was born in Jordan, was sentenced at U.S. District Court in
Washington, D.C., today on conspiracy and murder charges contained in a 1987
indictment that also included two other alleged members of the now-defunct “15
May” terrorist group. Under the terms of a plea agreement with the U.S.
government, which was unsealed upon sentencing today, Rashed will be released
on March 20, 2013, after serving nearly 25 years in prison – including time
served in a Greek prison. U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth also
imposed restitution of $116,525 to be paid to the parents of the teenager
killed in the bombing.

On Aug. 11, 1982, a bomb exploded aboard Pan Am Flight 830 traveling from Tokyo
to Honolulu, killing a Japanese teenager and injuring several other passengers.
The indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia in
1987 charged Rashed, Abu Ibrahim and Christine Pinter with being members of the
“15 May” organization and responsible for the placement of bombs in a number of
locations, including Pan Am Flight 830. The “15 May” terrorist group was
formed in 1979 by Ibrahim, and its objective was to promote the Palestinian
cause by killing Israeli and U.S. citizens, and by causing damage to Israeli
and American interests around the world. The group is believed to be
responsible for five separate bombing missions in the early 1980s.

Rashed was arrested in Greece in May 1988. The United States sought his
extradition at the time in connection with the 1987 indictment, but the request
was denied and Rashed was instead prosecuted by Greece under the Montreal
Convention, an international treaty which governs the destruction of aircraft.
Following two separate trials in Greece, Rashed was convicted of murdering the
Japanese passenger killed on Pan Am Flight 830, and of placing an explosive
aboard an aircraft. Rashed served eight years of a 15-year prison sentence in
Greece and was released in December 1996. He then traveled to a foreign
country. In June 1998, Rashed was arrested by the FBI on the U.S. charges and
transported back to the United States. His two co-defendants, Ibrahim and
Pinter, are still fugitives.

Rashed and his accomplices were given a safe haven in Iraq in the early 1980s
by Saddam Hussein’s regime. They launched multiple bombing operations out of
Baghdad throughout Europe and, in this case, on the American-owned passenger
airplane bound for the United States.

Rashed pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia on Dec. 17, 2002, following
a U.S. Appeals Court challenge that upheld the charges in the indictment.
After his guilty plea, and as part of the plea agreement, Rashed began
cooperating with the United States. The plea agreement required Rashed to
cooperate in regard to any matter which relates directly or indirectly to any
acts or potential acts of terrorism and violence that may have been committed
or planned by himself or others, and to testify at trials if needed.

“The passage of time does not diminish our commitment to bringing terrorists to
justice for their crimes,” said Assistant Attorney General Fisher. “As this case
clearly demonstrates, we will pursue terrorism cases around the globe and work
to achieve justice for the victims, however long it takes.”

United States Attorney Wainstein stated, “Today’s sentencing was a long time
coming for the victims of this terrorist attack. This prosecution shows that
we never call off the chase for terrorists and we never forget their victims.”

This case was prosecuted by the Counterterrorism Section of the Criminal
Division of the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the
District of Columbia, and investigated by the FBI.